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Governor to present plan in early 2009
By Dennis J. Willard
Beacon Journal Columbus Bureau
Published on Sunday, Jul 27, 2008
COLUMBUS: It would be easy to dismiss Gov. Ted Strickland's 12-city tour on education reform as a dog-and-pony show.
To do so, however, would be to prematurely demean the governor's sincere intentions to seriously address Ohio's woeful education funding system.
And we should at least give the governor an unimpeded path as he attempts to listen to Ohio.
On Tuesday, Strickland kicked off his ''Conversations on Education'' in Columbus before an audience of about 200 people representing educators, parents, students, business owners and others.
The crowd talked about infusing students with passion, making school fun, crafting individual education plans to meet the student's needs and talents, longer school years, all-day kindergarten, the return of the arts and physical fitness, and less emphasis on testing.
Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris said it was wrong to expect students from diverse backgrounds and different levels of preparedness to move at the same pace, yet the school year is designed to force children to attain standards annually on a nine-month timetable. It was a common-sense idea that seemed to resonate with the attendees.
Still, Strickland admitted afterward that he didn't hear anything particularly new.
There were no true revelations in Akron the next day, and the governor is not likely to glean innovative ideas in Dayton and Cincinnati, the next two stops this week, or in the eight cities to follow.
Strickland has been involved in the education funding issue since before deciding to run for governor in 2006.
As a former congressman and lifelong resident of Appalachia, he understands that your place of birth and where you are raised in this state predetermines the quality of your educational opportunity.
And the governor knows that education funding has been the focus of rigorous debate for more than 40 years in Ohio and there have been road shows, task forces, special committees and report after report after report that outlined the inherent weaknesses and inequities in the funding formula.
Before the tour, Strickland's point person on education, John Stanford, was holding regular roundtables with interest groups, and first lady Frances Strickland has been working on the issue separately.
In the Ohio Department of Education, top analyst Paolo DeMaria and one-time state budget director under former Gov. Bob Taft, was devising various funding scenarios using existing resources until the governor's higher education Chancellor Eric Fingerhut, in either a shrewd or serendipitous move, hired the longtime Republican staffer away as vice chancellor.
So with stacks of paper and plenty of well-informed insiders to tap for information, why is Strickland going on the road to listen to people tell him things he already knows?
Cynics would suggest the governor is just carrying on a grand tradition of attempting to disguise motion as action.
After all, in 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court gave then-Gov. George Voinovich the legal and moral authority to craft a solution to the funding formula by ruling the system unconstitutional and ordering a fix. But the self-described ''education governor'' appealed the decision and turned his back on the issue.
His successor, Bob Taft, also had a court order to act. Instead of leaving a legacy befitting his
storied name, Taft waited for the court to change and eventually release the case. Taft then oversaw a series of initiatives that directly contradicted the court's initial ruling to reduce the reliance on local property taxes.
The question facing the state now is: Is Strickland following in the fallow footprints of Voinovich and Taft or is the governor working a gambit designed to force a genuine showdown on education funding next year?
Without an alternative, Ohioans must take the governor at his word, but there are other indicators that suggest Strickland is not perpetrating a ruse.
This is the Strickland show, for better or worse. The governor is putting himself out there, front and center, in 12 cities, on television and across the Internet, and he knows he will have to act once the tour ends.
He also continues to challenge voters to judge him on his efforts to address the education funding conundrum.
It is the rare politician that reminds voters of his or her campaign promises long after the final votes have been tabulated.
Still, Strickland is not crazy, but rather pragmatic, and he is de-emphasizing funding during this initial 12-city tour and focusing on education reform.
This is a thoughtful move because, when completed, the governor will have a list of what the people supposedly want from the education system.
He then will begin to look at school funding.
In other words, Strickland is asking Ohioans to place items in the shopping cart without talking about the prices.
The governor intends to present his education reform and funding plan to the Ohio General Assembly in early 2009, a full year before he can seek re-election.
Lawmakers have been reluctant in the past to address school funding in any meaningful way in large part because the current system burdens local school boards and superintendents with asking voters for tax increases and frees lawmakers to run on anti-tax platforms.
Strickland's case to lawmakers next year will be bolstered by the hours spent traveling the state and listening to the people.
And he renewed his pledge to bypass an entrenched Ohio General Assembly, if need be, and go directly to voters with a reform and funding plan in November 2009.
Yes, Strickland's plan grants him an out because he can tell voters in 2010 that he gave education reform his best shot and lawmakers and Ohioans rejected his ideas.
But with so much at stake, and the lack of any leadership on this issue from previous governors, it is not too much to give Strickland the benefit of the doubt and trust he is sincere.
It is really the only hope we hold.
Dennis J. Willard can be reached at 614-224-1613 or dwillard@thebeaconjournal.com.
COLUMBUS: It would be easy to dismiss Gov. Ted Strickland's 12-city tour on education reform as a dog-and-pony show.
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